Modern communication systems are known to include wireless communication units (e.g., cell phones, radio units and the like) distributed among one or more sites. The communication units wirelessly communicate, via radio frequency (RF) resources with each other and with one or more base stations/radios (usually located at fixed base sites). The wireless links may be implemented using any appropriate access technology including, for example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) or Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). The base stations are typically connected to other fixed portions of the system (i.e., the infrastructure) by wireline links. The infrastructure includes equipment used in the processing and monitoring of communications and may include links/gateways to external networks such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or the Internet. Hence, wireless users may communicate, via a combination of wireless and wireline links, with wireline telephony devices, servers, and the like.
In certain communication systems, due to national security and emergency preparedness concerns, portions of communication resources may be dedicated or partitioned for use by certain privileged users such as police, fire or emergency personnel and/or government users. Generally, the objective of such systems is to provide priority treatment for privileged users during periods of severe network congestion (as may occur responsive to catastrophic events). To that end, a proposed nationwide Wireless Priority Service (WPS) (also known as Priority Access Service (PAS)) will provide priority treatment for privileged users in certain wireless networks. A complementary system, known as Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS), provides priority treatment for privileged users in selected landline networks.
A problem that arises is that privileged use communication systems, while serving a recognized need, adversely impact the availability of communication resources for non-privileged users. Particularly during periods of severe network congestion, resources may be severely limited or unavailable to non-privileged users (hence they may not be able to complete calls) because privileged users are using much of the resources. If so inclined, the non-privileged users may re-attempt call(s) terminated due to lack of resources at a later time, but they generally have no idea of which call attempt(s) are likely to go through, because they do not know the portion of the network resources that are being used by privileged users.
Accordingly, there is a need for method(s) to mitigate the impact of resource limitations caused by privileged use schemes, such as WPS and GETS, on non-privileged users.